Cap construction



Dec. 6, 1960 B. KRONENBERGER CAP CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 29, 1958 INVENTOR. /firace ffm/aeaieryer United States Patent CAP CONSTRUCTION Bruce Kronenberger, Chicago, 111., assignor to American Needle & Novelty Co., Chicago, Ill., a co-partnership Filed Jan. 29, 1958, Ser. No. 711,986

2 Claims. (Cl. 2-190) The invention relates to improvements in headwear and more particularly to the novel construction of a cap having a novel resiliently stretchable inner lining adapting the cap to fit heads of different sizes within the minimum and permitted maximum range of contraction and expansion of the lining.

Headwear, and caps in particular, are made up in a wide range of head sizes usually varying in eighth inch increments, such for example as, 6%, 6%, 7, 7%, etc. This practice necessitates the manufacture and stocking of a very large number of caps in different sizes and often in a wide variety of designs. The present invention has for one of its objects the avoidance of this costly practice and, to this end, the cap herein disclosed is provided with a novel normally contracted resiliently stretchable or expandable lining adapting a selected cap to a wide range of sizes. For example, a cap having the novel expandable lining, associated therewith will fit properly and can be worn comfortably on a head varying in size up to three or more increments. The caps may thus be made and sold to the trade in only three sizes which may be designated as small, medium and large. This should cover substantially the complete range of sizes in use today by cap manufacturers.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in a cap, a lining made wholly or in part, from fabric woven in such a manner, or otherwise constituted, so as to permit a sheet of this fabric to stretch in all directions of its plane.

Another object is to provide a cap having a novel lining therewith, and embodying the features of this invention, which is not expensive or difiicult to manufacture, and is very efficient in its use.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of the invention, I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment thereof, from an inspection of which, when considered in connection with the following description, the invention, its mode of construction and assembly, and many of its advantages should be readily understood and appreciated.

Referring to the drawings in which the same characters of reference are employed to indicate corresponding or similar parts throughout the several figures of the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a cap having the improved lining therein.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged central sectional view of the cap.

2,952,723 Patented Dec. 6, 1960 Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the lining.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the cap 11, selected for purposes of illustration, includes a crown 12 and a bill 13. The cap may be fabricated in any conventional manner and of any practical material including leather, fabric, or any combination of leather and fabric or any synthetic imitations thereof.

The lining 14, best shown in Fig. 3, comprises a substantially frusto-conical wall 15 closed at its upper smaller end by a circular wall 16 secured to said conical wall in a seam, as at 17. The outer periphery 18 of the lower or bottom end of the wall 15 is of a size that corresponds substantially to the peripheral rim 19 (Fig. 2) of the crown 12 so that when the lining is fitted within the inside of the crown, its periphery 18 and the rim 19 may be joined together in a seam, as at 21.

The lining wall 15 is fabricated from normally contracted resiliently stretchable woven fabric, such as crimped nylon, or other elasticized material, whereas the circular end or top wall 16 may be comprised of nonelastic fabric. Upon reference to Fig. 2, it will be observed that when the lining 14 is secured in place within the crown 12, the wall 15 thereof assumes a configuration corresponding substantially to the shape of a bell; its main body portion B being substantially conical and of a diameter considerably smaller than the overall inside dimension of the crown 12, and its peripheral bottom margin M flaring outwardly and lying substantially in the plane of the rim 19 of the crown. The lining, when in its normal contracted condition, as shown in Fig. 2 and the solid lines in Fig. 3, defines the smaller of the range of sizes inherent in the cap disclosed. When the cap is fitted onto a head size larger than said smaller size and within the maximum limit determined by the size of the crown rim, the lining 14 stretches or expands to the configuration shown in the dash-dot lines in Fig. 3 to fit the larger head size and, because of the inherent tendency of the lining to contract, the cap will fit snugly in all instances. The presence of the non-elastic top wall 16 in the lining serves to restrain unlimited expansion of the upper end of the wall 15 and thereby resist excessive expansion at: the lower portion of said wall 15, which might result in a loose fit.

It has been found that caps embodying this invention will fit snugly and comfortably on heads of at least three different sizes. Thus a cap constructed in this manner will be fully satisfactory for anyone whose head size is, for example, 6%, 7 or 7 /8. It should be obvious that by reason of this novel structure a substantial saving will be made in holding down the volume of caps that have to be stocked in order to satisfy the normal range of head sizes.

The lining 14 also affords a dead air space 22 having thermo-insulation properties and, although the invention is shown as embodied in a specific style of cap, it should be understood that it may be incorporated in any form of headwear so as to adapt the headwear to a wide range of sizes.

It is believed that my invention, its mode of construction and assembly, and many of its advantages should be readily understood from the foregoing without further description, and it should also be manifest that while a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described for illustrative purposes, the structural details are nevertheless capable of variation within the purview of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A cap comprising a crown having a lower peripheral rim composed of non-elastic material extending in a substantially horizontal plane, a lining within said crown,

3 said lining comprising a substantially horizontal top portion connected to an elastic stretchable sheet material arranged in the form of a hollow annulus having an upper frusto-conical portion secured at its upper extremity to said top portion'a'nd a lower outwardly-flaring horizontally-extending portion formed integral with said frusto-conical portion and lying substantially in the horizontal plane of said crown rim, and means securing the outer edge of said horizontal portion to said crown rim.

2. A cap comprising a crown having a lower pe'ripher al rim composed of non-elastic material and extending in a substantially horizontal plane, a lining within said crown, said lining comprising a substantially horizontal top portion composed of non-elastic material and connected to a resiliently stretchable hollow annular portion, said hollow annular portion having an upper frustoconical part secured at its upper extremity to said top portion and a lower outwardly-flaring horizontally-extending part formed integral with said frusto=conical part and lying substantially in the horizontal plane of said crown rim, and means securing the outer edge of said horizontal part to said crown rim.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,225,618 Grunig et a1. May 8, 1917 1,561,172 Koch Nov. 10, 1925 2,341,596 Cobb Feb. 15, 1944 2,823,444 Davies et a1 Feb. 18, 1958 2,831,235 Taylor a Apr. 22, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 139,374 Great Britain Mar. 4, 1920 I l t 

